And
a teacher loses nothing by teaching another person.
Many people have the mistaken idea that they somehow
diminish themselves when they give to someone else, but
nothing could be further from the truth. We are
flames ourselves--lights in the darkness--and our flame
diminishes not even the slightest bit when we share what
we are with other human beings.

If
I give away money, the amount of money I have does
diminish. But my spirit grows. If I give away
part of my book collection or my record collection, then
they grow smaller. But my soul grows richer.
And I've found through experience that it's not until I'm
ready and willing to give things away without conditions
attached that I'm able to attract more of the same back to
me. We don't receive until we're able to give, for
the door of giving and receiving is the same door, and we
have to unlock and open it from the inside.

But
those are material parts of our lives. How can we
light someone else's candle with our own flame?
Through encouragement, through teaching, through
compliments and kind words. We can light someone
else's candle by being there to listen and by accepting
them for who they are, exactly as they are. And not
only do we lose nothing in lighting their candle, but our
flame can grow more steady and more sure as we reach out
and touch other people's lives. And the aggregate
light of the world will grow with every new candle that is
lit, bringing more and more light to the darker places in
this world we share.

Questions to
consider:

Have you lit someone else's candle recently?
How? How did it feel?

Why do many people shy away from giving to other, even
just encouragement or kind words?

How can we increase the amount of light in the world?

For further
thought:

Simply give others a bit of yourself;
a thoughtful act, a helpful idea,
a word of appreciation,
a lift over a rough spot,
a sense of understanding, a
timely suggestion. You take something
out of your mind,
garnished in kindness out of your heart,
and put it into
the other person's mind and heart.

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